2023 CiteScore: 0.7
pISSN: 0044-6025
eISSN: 1735-9694
Editor-in-Chief:
Ahmadreza Dehpour, PharmD, PhD
This journal is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Vol 36, No 2 (1998)
Articles
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The effects of cadmium and lead on human erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase activity were studied. Blood used in this study was obtained from 24 healthy individuals, then after hemolysation, treated with 3 various concentrations of cadmium and lead. A strong inhibition of acetylcholinesterase was noted in treated samples by cadmium and lead. The remaining activity In the case of lead, the remaining activity was found to be 81% with the highest concentration , S7% with the middle and 94% with the lowest one (30 fi g/dl, p<0.05). Cadmium showed a nearly linear correlation between doses used and decrease in activity (r- = 0.S3), lead showed a better correlation (r- = 0.92). The direct effect of metal ions on AChE, i.e. a decrease in quantity of the enzyme, may be a proposed mechanism for this depression.
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Six cases of gastrointestinal duplications with varied manifestations are being presented. Case 1 presented with an epigastric mass, case 2 presented with an epigastric mass along with projectile vomiting since birth time, case 3 had severe colicky pain and was admitted as an emergency case, case 4 presented with massive rectal bleeding along with hypovolemic shock, case 5 was admitted for constipation of 12 yean duration and case 6 was admitted as a suspected case of intussusception or Meckle's diverticula presenting with severe rectal bleeding and a hemoglobin of 6 g.
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It has been reported that cither lithium or verapamil can potentiate the neuromuscular blocking activity of certain neuromuscular blockers. In the present investigation, possible interaction of verapamil with lithium has been described. The dose ■ response effects of verapamil and lithium on diaphragmatic contractility were assessed in vitro. Mechanical responses of the muscle to indirect (nerve) and direct (muscle) electrical stimulation were recorded. Verapamil depressed rat diaphragm twitch tensions induced by nerve stimulation in a dose - dependent manner with the 50 percent depression of the original twitch tensions (ICSQ) by 5.6 xlO^mmol/l.
The IC50 of verapamil for direct stimulation of the muscle was LI x W'5 mmol II. Partial replacement of sodium chloride by lithium chloride (0.5, 1.5 and 5 mmol /1) in the medium did not change the depressant effect of verapamil on muscle twitches induced by direct (muscle) or indirect (nerve) electrical stimulation. -
Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations are rare clinical entities thai are associated with right to left shunts, and are often clinically presented by the triad of dyspnea, cyanosis, and digital clubbing. Currently, transcatheter embolization of fistula is gaining increasing popularity as the superior therapeutic option. In certain situations, however, surgery is preferred. Two cases of direct pulmonary artery ■ left atrial fistulas are described who, were treated simply by surgery with no recurrence.
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The aim of this study was to determine the effect of lovastatin and fluvastatin compared with placebo in patients with high levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL - Cj on plasma lipid profile. In a prospective single blind clinical trial with convenient sampling 120 hypercholesterolemia men and women with total cholesterol > 220 mg/dl, LDL - C > 160 mgidl, triglyceride < 350 tngldl were selected and we divided them in 3 groups randomly. First group look lovastatin 20 mg daily, second group took fluvastatin 40 mg daily and third group took a placebo, all for 12 weeks. Compared with placebo, drug therapy of hypercholesterolemia with either lovastatin or fluvastatin decreases total cholesterol and LDL- C significantly but has no effect on high density lipoprotein and triglyceride. Decrease of total cholesterol and LDL - C in both drugs are the same after first 6 weeks but lovastatin was more effective after second 6 weeks. Mild increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and white blood cells (WBC) in the fluvastatin group appeared after 6 and 12 weeks that their means werent more than 21 for ALT and 7000 for WBC.
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Gamma-aminobutyric acid is the main inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitter in several areas of the brain. Measurement of gamma-aminobutyric acid in the brain will help elucidate its metabolic rote and diagnostic value. The liquid chromatography (LC) system consisted of a delivery pump. Male rats (150-250g) were used in this study. The brain was rapidly removed from decapitated animals. Trie chromatograms showed satisfactory resolution and symmetrical peak shapes, both with the standard and tissue extracts. the retention lime was 4.60 min. it was constant in repeated analyses and exactly the same for the standard and tissue samples.
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Anaphylactic reactions can occur following the adminstration of muscle relaxants. However, it happens very rarefy wish pancuronium bromide. A case report of anaphylactic shock to pancuronium bromide, which is supported by a highly poitive skin prick test, is reported.
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77irty six patients with non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, whose blood sugar was not controlled with maximal doses of oral hypoglycemic agents and did not accept insulin treatment, were selected for this study. The patients were randomly divided into two groups, the treatment group and the control group. The treatment group received oral hypoglycemic agent and chloroquine (150 mg twice daily) and the control group received oral hypoglycemic agent and placebo for a period of six months. the fasting blood sugar (FBS) and Hb A1C were recorded before and after treatment. The age, sex, weight and duration of disease were similar in both groups (P>0.05). The blood sugar level, was significantly lower after 3-6 months of chloroquine therapy (P < 0.001). Serious drug reactions were not noticed, except for gastrointestinal upset in three patients and hypoglycemia in another two cases. In conclusion we believe that the combination of chloroquine and oral hypoglycemic agents can be useful for the control of blood sugar levels in some resistant cases of non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.
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Polyarteritis nodosa is a multisystem necrotizing vasculitis of small and medium size muscular arteries in which involvement of the renal and viserat arteries is characteristic. The etiology is unknown but hepatitis B antigenemia is found in 30% of patients. Drug exposures and hypersensitivity reactions are other possible causes. Excellent therapeutic results have been reported in classic polyarteritis nodosa with the combination of corticosteroids and cytotoxic agents. In this article, 2 cases of cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa are reported .
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The teratogenicity of cadmium exposure was studied in virgin NIMRI rats aged 10-13 weeks. Pregnant animals were fed cadmium sulfate equivalent to doses of 1,4 and 7 mg/kg/day of cadmium by oral gavage on the day 7 of gestation. On the day 18 of gestation, fetuses were delivered and examined for external and skeletal malformations. Total percent of malformed fetuses in rats treated by different doses of cadmium were significantly higher than of control group. In this study the length of arm, big diameter of chest, big diameter of pelvis, length of femur, length of tibia, length between crown to sacrum, large diameter of skull and length between crown to bottom were examined. The appearance of total skeletal malformation in treated groups started by dose of 1 mg/kg/day of cadmium (p<0.05) excluded by length of arm, big diameter of chest and big dimeter of pelvis- Growth retardation was also observed significantly in all doses of cadmium treatment. Regression analysis showed a significant relationship between rate of tola! malformations and doses of cadmium (r=0.97); and between growth retardation and doses of cadmium (r2=0.99). The most toxicity of cadmium on length of skeletons appeared in tibia and the lowest one was in arm. Of width skeletons, the highest toxic effect of cadmium was on big diameter of pelvis and the lowest was on big diameter of chest. In total toxicity of cadmium was observed most frequently on the lower limbs. In the external malformation category, only cleft palate and open eyelid were observed in live fetuses.
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Myasthenia crisis is the most dangerous complication of myasthenia gravis. We report one case in which a continuous infusion of pyridostigmine resulted in successful management of myasthenia exacerbation in a 50 year old myasthenic female following thymectomy.
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Promontory stimulation testing is both a valuable diagnosic tool and a crucial step in candidate selection for cochlear implantation. In this study we have compared the promontory stimulation test results between different subsets of patients with hearing loss in order to clarify the aspects of promontory stimulation which correlate best with the patients'characierisiics. Patients with severe to profound hearing loss underwent Promontory Stimulation as well as a number of other diagnostic tests. One hundred and eighty eight ears comprised the study population and were grouped into congenital, non-congenital, cochlear, reirocochlear, sudden, and progressive hearing loss groups. The congenital group (CG) (n =36) had lower hearing thresholds and greater dynamic ranges than the non-congenital group (NG) (n = 71). Gap detection and temporal difference limen results were also significantly better in this group. The cochlear group (CO) (n = 15) had better hearing thresholds than reirocochlear (RC) (n=20). The sudden-onset (SN) (n = 14) group had worse dynamic ranges as compared to progressive group (PR) (n=22) but did better on gap detection and temporal difference limen. Dynamic ranges decreased with age in all groups.
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Stereoselectivity of mefloquine enantiomers were studied in rats after oral administration of a single 50mg/Kg dose of the racemate. Pharmacokinetic parameters of (+)-(RS)-MFQ in blood and plasma showed no significant difference. The concentration, AUC , CLIF and VdlF of (+)-(RS)-enantiomerin blood were significantly higher than those for the (-)-(SR)-enantiomer. Tlie results obtained from this study showed a reverse stereoselectivity of MFQ as compared with what reported for human. A very low amount of enantiomers excreted in urine and the excretion was not stereoselective. A preliminary study in different blood fractions showed that the accumulation of MFQ enantiomers in blood cells is stereoselective with a tendency of ( + )-(RS)-enatiomer for leukocytes and (-)-(SR)-enantiomer for erythrocytes.
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We carried out prospective study on 121 cases of cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis during a 5-years period (1990-1995) in order to determine the correlation between clinical, histological and microbiological finding in establishing the tuberculous lymphadenitis diagnosis. Biopsy was done in 96 cases, of which 93 specimens (96%) were compatible with tuberculous lymphadenitis, with 17 cases positive of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) in culture. The remaining 25 cases consisted of TB abscesses with a yield of 19 cases of positive AFB in culture, of 115 patients who completed the 6 months (2 RHZE/4 RH) short-course chemotherapy, (95%) showed excellent results.
